We know that humans are depleting our planet's natural resources at a gigantic rate, and the extinction of our species is often raised due to the destruction of our planet. Therefore, we talk about the terraformingIt involves adapting other planets to habitable conditions suitable for humans. Terraforming originated in science fiction, but thanks to the development of science, it is now being implemented in the scientific community.
In this article, we'll tell you the steps involved in terraforming and which planets can be adapted for habitation.
Terraforming
The fact of talking about terraforming is summarized in looking for a planet and conditioning its atmosphere so that it can be habitable for humans. Once a planet has been terraformed you can talk about the possible habitats that can be used by humans. It's not only important to understand and adapt the atmosphere to a habitable place, but also the geological and morphological structures to make them as similar to our planet as possible. One of the most common cases of terraforming, both for the scientific community and the general public, is Mars. If you'd like to learn more about the challenges this process faces, you can learn more about the terraforming of Mars.
There are numerous renowned authors who have proposed to turn Mars into a world adapted to the survival of human beings. There are also other planets that can be terraformed and adapt the conditions to the human being. Terraforming is an almost essential step in the development and survival of the human being as a speciesLet's see which planets can be colonized. The logical thing to do is to start with those planets in the solar system that are closest to Earth. Although Venus is the closest planet, its atmospheric pressure is too high, and it has clouds of concentrated sulfuric acid and high temperatures. This makes living on Venus very challenging, which makes understanding the terraforming of Venus is an interesting but complicated topic.
Simpler and more natural would be to start with Mars.
Other planets to terraform
The gas giants in the solar system are Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune. They have the obvious problem of not having a solid surface to sit on, with the exception of the core. This makes them planets that are not even considered for terraforming, since they do not offer a suitable environment for terraforming planets.
Oceanic planets, consisting almost entirely of a single ocean, are very common in science fiction settings. In the film Interstellar and the novel Solaris, we can see how a planet with terrestrial soil cannot be colonized. This could be easily remedied, unlike the case of gaseous planets, but it would still be more costly. However, these planets are very unstable from a climatic perspective, as they lack an emerged Earth's crust and lack silicate and carbonate cycles.
On an ocean planet, evaporation is limited and carbon dioxide it is effectively removed by the ocean itself but is not released by the lithosphere. This causes the planet to cool rapidly, entering an ice age. Later, with a brighter sun, evaporation would increase substantially, forming water vapor again and melting the ice. Ocean planets are too volatile and are completely ruled out for terraforming.
Terraforming of Mars
For the reason mentioned above, one of the planets targeted for terraforming by humans is Mars. Today There are two very serious projects for a trip to Mars, although not for terraforming, such as those being carried out for the colonization of Mars. This demonstrates that the planet continues to arouse great interest in humans. This planet, like Earth or Venus, has had a geological history. One of the most important details is whether there was water in the past and in what quantities. This is an aspect about which there is growing conviction that it almost existed, and that the oceans once occupied almost a third of the surface.
Currently it is a clearly inhospitable place since its thin atmosphere makes it have about one thousandth of the atmospheric pressure that exists on our planet. One of the reasons for the existence of such a thin atmosphere is because of a weak gravity, reaching values up to 40% lower than on Earth and on the other hand the absence of the magnetosphere. It must be taken into account that the magnetosphere is the one that makes the solar wind particles not be deflected and can affect the atmosphere. We know that these particles can gradually destroy the atmosphere.
The planet Venus has no magnetosphere and a dense atmosphere because its gravitational pull is much stronger. The temperature on Mars fluctuates widely and can reach temperatures of hundreds of degrees below zero and as high as 30 degrees in equatorial regions. The winds are not usually very intense, and dust storms occur frequently. These dust storms can engulf the entire planet. You can read more about the climate change on Mars, which is also a major challenge.
Despite the fact that we find a planet with a thin atmosphere, it's easy to find wind speeds reaching up to 90 km/h. The density is so low on Mars that there are small pressure differences. Another thing that has been done for energy generation on Mars is the wind's ability to move millsThis capacity would be greatly reduced even at the speeds of a sandstorm, again due to the low density.
Live on mars
The characteristic reddish hue of the planet Mars is due to the presence of iron oxides such as limonite and magnetite in the air. This makes the diameter of the particles somewhat greater than the wavelength of light that is entering the planet and can be seen in the air. Of oxygen the water vapor in the atmosphere there are hardly any traces, since the composition of the atmosphere is by 95% or more carbon dioxide, followed by nitrogen and argon.
The lack of a magnetic field causes cosmic rays to hit Mars, so the solar wind particles and radiation levels are too high for humans. We would have to live underground.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the terraforming of Mars and its characteristics.